The last is yet to be heard concerning the recent Supreme Court judgment, which granted autonomy to local councils as 489 local government areas (LGAs) in 21 states may not receive the next allocation from the federation account.
The Guardian checks revealed that as of Thursday when the apex court delivered its judgment, 489 out of 774 LGAs (63.17 per cent) were being governed by caretaker committees or civil servants, indicating democracy had been crippled at the grassroots.
It was also gathered that some governors at the weekend began strategising on how to mitigate the effects of zero allocation to the LGAs, which might cripple governance at the grassroots and affect the salaries of workers including primary school teachers.
Local councils have come under severe criticism for their lack of performance because of the undue influence of state governors on the third tier of government.
However, despite their less visibility and abysmal performance, the 774 local governments in Nigeria received N2.634 trillion between June 2023 and May 2024, against the N2.179 trillion they received in 2022, while 489 local councils not governed by democratically elected officials received N1.679 trillion within the same period.
The seven-member panel in the judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim declared that the power of the government is apportioned into three: federal, state and local government, insisting that a state government has no power to appoint a caretaker committee and that a local government council is recognisable with a democratically elected government. The court held that the use of caretaker committees amounts to the state government taking control of local governments, in violation of the 1999 Constitution.
The Guardian investigation revealed that while some states like Anambra had not conducted local council elections since 2014, Zamfara (2018), Enugu (2018), Abia (2020), Jigawa, which ended the tenure of its council officials, had fixed June 2025 for another election.
Other states include Sokoto, Ondo, Osun, Plateau, Katsina, Kano, Delta, Kogi, Benue, Kwara, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Bauchi, Adamawa and Imo.
The number of affected LGAs reduced at the weekend following council elections held in Adamawa and Delta. In the Southeast, only Ebonyi has elected council chairmen.
However, their tenure will end this week with a fresh election to be held on July 20. Anambra has been administering its local councils through caretaker committees since 2014, and no date has been fixed for a fresh election.
The last council election in Abia State was held in 2020. A caretaker committee appointed by Governor Alex Otti governs the local councils and no date has been fixed for a new election.
The tenure of council officials elected in February 2022 in Enugu State expired in February this year. The councils are currently run by Heads of Personnel Management. October 5 has been fixed for a fresh election.
In Imo State, local council election was held in 2018, but the elected officials were dissolved after less than one year in office in 2019. Since then, caretaker committees have been in charge. The government, however, slated September 21, this year for an election.
Only local councils in Osun and Ondo are not being governed by democratically elected local council officials in the Southwest. The last council election was held in Osun in October 2022. This election was nullified by a federal court sitting in Osogbo on November 25, 2022. Since then, caretaker committees have been holding the forte in the state. Ondo ought to have council election by last Saturday but it was postponed indefinitely.
In the South-south, since June 1, 2023, when the tenure of elected local councils elapsed in Cross River State, civil servants appointed by Governor Bassey Edet Otu had been governing the LGs. No date has been for another election. The State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) has not been constituted.
Delta State narrowly escaped being affected by the judgment because it held its local council election on Saturday.
In Akwa Ibom, the transition committee that took charge of its LGs administration fixed October this year for the election. All the 23 LGs in Rivers State are still being controlled by caretaker committees set up by Governor Siminalayi Fubara following the expiration of the tenure of elected officials on June 17. Another election will be held in October this year.
In the North Central, caretaker committees have been in charge at local councils in Kwara State since 2012. The state government announced September, this year, for another election.
Kogi State, which extended the tenure of caretaker committees, last month, fixed December this year for another local council poll.
In Benue State, the last local council election was held in 2021. The caretaker committee has been in charge since December when the tenure of elected officials expired. November has been fixed for a new election.
In the Northeast, Bauchi is the only state without democratically elected LGs. Since August 3, 2023 caretaker committees have governed local councils. The state government fixed August 17, 2024 for another election.
Adamawa conducted local council elections on Saturday while Borno had its poll in January this year.
For states in the Northwest, Jigawa, which appointed civil servants to govern its local councils on June 28, announced that a new election will be held on June 14, 2025. Katsina will continue with caretaker committees till February next year.
Kano, which had just extended the tenure of appointed caretaker committees, has not fixed a new date for an election.
The 23 local councils in Sokoto State had the tenure of their elected council officially terminated in July 2023. A new date for another election has not been fixed.
Speaking on the political implication of the Supreme Court judgment granting financial autonomy to local councils, a political economist, Dr Albert Azinge, told The Guardian that elections into LGs will now be highly competitive as more credible Nigerians with the interest of their people at heart will join politics to vie for positions.
He said more importantly, the judgment has redefined the working relationship between the state government and local councils, noting that governors have to relinquish some LGs’ functions and responsibilities they have been performing.
As the closest level of government to people in the federation, the 4th Schedule of the 1999 Constitution listed some of the functions of the local government as: “collection of rates, radio and television licences; establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for the destitute or infirm; licensing of bicycles, trucks (other than mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheelbarrows and carts; establishment, maintenance and regulation of slaughterhouses, slaughter slabs, markets, motor parks and public conveniences. “Construction and maintenance of roads, streets, street lightings, drains and other public highways, parks, gardens, open spaces, or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a State; naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses; provision and maintenance of public conveniences, sewage and refuse disposal; registration of all births, deaths and marriages.
“Assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State; and control and regulation of out-door advertising…”
However, The Guardian checks revealed that most states established agencies to perform some of the constitutional roles of local governments in various sectors.
The control of outdoor advertisement and signage has become a big money-making venture for state governments. Also, the control of parks, licensing, regulation and control of the sale of liquor are no longer within the purview of local governments in some states.
The management of refuse has ceased to be the responsibility of local governments in states. Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) is in charge of refuse management in the state. Similar outfits are Oyo State Waste Management Authority (OYSTMA), Rivers State Waste Management Agency (RIWAMA) and Delta State Waste Management Board, Kano State’s Refuse Management and Sanitation Board (REMASAB), and the Enugu State Waste Management Authority.
A former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, believes all Nigerians should support the Federal Government to fully implement the judgment. He also called for the immediate cessation of allocations to the “illegal caretaker committees” governing local councils.
In a telephone chat with The Guardian, the APC chieftain said the judgment should be seen as the first leg to what will grant full autonomy to local councils and make them accountable to the people.
He said: “We implore the Supreme Court to allow INEC to begin to conduct local council elections because most of those currently elected are products of a scam election. They are still tied to the apron strings of their governors. If the federal government is releasing monthly allocations straight to the local councils, there is nothing wrong if it conducts elections to ensure true representatives of the people have access to the funds.”
Shittu also argued that allowing INEC to conduct council elections will not erode the true federalism most Nigerians yearn for. He said if Nigeria can have a unified police and military, there is nothing wrong with having a unified council election.
“INEC has all the data of the electorates and technology to conduct free, fair and credible council elections in Nigeria,” he said.
A public analyst, Prof. Siyan Oyeweso, described the Supreme Court’s decision as a landmark judgment in the history of local government administration in Nigeria, particularly since the Dasuki Reform of 1976. He described it as a significant achievement for the administration of President Bola Tinubu, noting that it is a bold decision and a major step in the right direction towards the restructuring programme of the APC.
He said: “Over the years, successful governors have hijacked everything belonging to the local governments. The LGs have become mere appendages of the office of the governors being supervised by the Commissioner for Local Government. This has been stopped by the judgment.”
The university don, however, urged the National Assembly to expedite action and review the Electoral Act to allow INEC to conduct local council elections to complement the financial autonomy granted by the Supreme Court.
He also noted that the issue of the Joint Account Allocation Committee (JAAC) should be expunged from the Constitution following the decision of the apex court.
Also, member, House of Representatives, Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, pleaded for a window of opportunity to allow payment of salaries of primary school teachers and council workers. Isiaka, who is the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Students’ Loan said, Nigerians should look forward to a better and quality administration in the LGs, noting that serious minded professionals will now be interested in contesting positions at the third tier of government.
He added: “I have been personally advocating for restructuring of our local governments to make them effective because that is the essence of democracy. The time has come for Nigerians to hold their council chairmen accountable.”
Relatedly, the senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi, said the National Assembly would soon work on transferring the responsibility of elections into local councils from state electoral bodies to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
He asked Nigerians to keep faith that the National Assembly would ensure compliance by state governments and also amend the Constitution to address contentious issues.
Karimi, who indicated while addressing journalists in Abuja, said: “The National Assembly, through our oversight responsibility, will ensure that revenue from the federal purse goes to where it is supposed to go. We will ensure that the Supreme Court’s judgment is obeyed to the letter, that allocation is shared among the three tiers of government in accordance with the law.”
Also, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Tertiary Institutions and TETFUND, Muntari Dandutse, praised the judgment while fielding questions from newsmen at the Nigerian High Commission on Saturday, after overseeing candidates sitting for this year’s Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) test at the embassy. Dandutse, who was previously a local government chairman during the administration of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua, said: “It is a relief to governors. They will no longer be held accountable” for such funds, because “the chairmen themselves will be.” He also argued that the judgment “will help to develop local governments.”
The Guardian
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